Pass the Juvenile Justice Reform Act

Until 1974 it was common for boys and girls in the juvenile justice system to be placed in cells with adults, subjecting them to both physical and sexual assaults. And children were put in jail for minor acts like truancy or running away from home.

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) changed that by setting federal protections for youth and providing funding to state and local juvenile justice systems to make sure that they help, not hurt, young people.

The JJDPA is up for reauthorization as a new bill called the Juvenile Justice Reform Act and it was just passed by the House of Representatives. Please sign this petition to ask your senator to support the bill next.

This reauthorization includes significant improvements to the law that will continue to protect young people in juvenile justice systems throughout the country by providing direct funding for research, training, technical assistance, and evaluation. Over 1 million children are involved in the juvenile justice system and many others are at risk of entering it due to difficult circumstances, such as poverty, broken families, and homelessness.

This reauthorization will help improve many of the key areas of juvenile justice, such as reducing the placement of youth in adult jails, decreasing racial and ethnic disparities, and promoting alternatives to incarceration.